14 July
2010
(source: in-house)
Cheap Car Insurance Companies
Many, indeed the majority, of those searching for cheap car insurance
companies online decide to find their cover through a car insurance
comparison site. By this means, they can generally save on their
renewal quote; so keeping the overall anuual cost of their motoring to
as low a price as possible. A sensible approach, perhaps, but with
several important caveats.
Firstly, how many of those drivers that buy via a comparison site are
fully aware of the type of cover that they are getting from these cheap car insurance companies? Clearly, the lower
the cost of the cover, the more that needs to be left out by the
insurance company. Consequently, the cheaper the car insurance, the
more necessary it becomes to know what you're getting for that price.
You're unlikely to get any courtesy car arrangements, for example, and
you should expect a high excess. That being the case, it does beg the
question whether routinely buying from cheap
car insurance companies is the most prudent course.
Secondly, treating the price as if it is the only important factor to
determine your choice of cheap
car insurance companies is simply
a marketing device that has been successfully exploited by price
comparison sites to make sales. Yet price, of course, tends to have an
inverse relationship with quality. It's not possible to argue that when
you buy the cheapest policy among hundreds that it is likely to serve
you well in an accident.
Because of the above quality considerations, many decide to choose from
cheap car insurance
companies by going direct to leading brands. Around a third of those
that used a car insurance comparison system last time will go direct
the next time around. Almost invariably, going direct to cheap car insurance companies in this way will
automatically inject quality control, even if you are not very
conscientious about checking over the policy features before purchase.
Buying from cheap car insurance
companies direct does not typically lead to paying too much when you
compare similar levels of cover. The competitive car insurance market
ensures that prices are close from the biggest players.
Does this mean that the UK's high use of car insurance comparison
sevices is a mistake? Not necessarily. But it is probably fair to say
that most people are mistaken in the way that they use these services
to find cheap car insurance
companies as they tend to pay inadequate attention to what they are
buying which could result in significant additonal costs when a claim
is made.
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